Pentagon clarifies statement on US bombers being sent to Australia

The Pentagon has clarified the suggestion by an assistant secretary of defence that the United States was planning to deploy B-1 long-range bombers in Australia.

"ASD [Assistant Secretary of Defence] David Shear misspoke when he stated that B-1 bombers and surveillance aircraft will be placed in Australia," a statement provided to Fairfax Media said. "We have since officially corrected the record to read, 'We will be operating a mix of additional air force assets in Australia on a rotational basis, including fighter, bomber, and tanker aircraft.'"

A US Air Force B1-B bomber plane taking part in attacks on Islamic State in Iraq last year.Credit:AFP

The language in the statement reflects that used by the Australian Defence Minister, Kevin Andrews, who when asked about Mr Shear's comments, also said that he had misspoken.

The statement is also in accordance with the rotational deployment of US troops and other assets under a bilateral agreement announced in November 2011, along with America's so-called "rebalance" to the Asia Pacific region.

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Mr Shear made the comments about the B-1 bomber almost in passing during a hearing of the powerful Senate foreign relations committee in the US Capitol building on Wednesday.

The hearing had attracted significant attention because a day earlier the Wall Street Journal had published a story based on a leak suggesting the US Navy was planning to conduct so-called "Freedom of Navigation" exercises within 12 miles of contested islands in the South China Sea.

Such exercises are designed to challenge contested claims to territorial waters, and should they take place they would mark an increase in tensions between the US and China in the region.

Australia was mentioned several times in testimony before the Republican-dominated committee, which was probing for information on how effective the Obama administration's China policies have proved.

As part of an answer to question on America's response to China's increasingly assertive stance, Mr Shear said, "We – under the redeployment of long-term – medium to long-term redeployment of Marines in Okinawa, we will be moving significant numbers of Marines to Hawaii, Guam and Australia.

"We will be placing additional air force assets in Australia as well, including B-1 bombers and surveillance aircraft. We – we are looking at further deployments in the Philippines on a rotational basis once we have implemented the Enhanced Defence Co-operation Agreement."

Though the Pentagon has now said Mr Shear "misspoke" in this section of his answer, it has not made clear how and did not respond to further queries from Fairfax Media.

Elsewhere in testimony it was noted that the US was "modernising" its alliance with Australia and Japan and that the updated agreement with Australia allows for "the increased stationing of Marines and air force in Australia on a rotational basis".

In answer to a question from the Republican Senator Bob Corker, Mr Shear observed that other coastal states around the South China Sea were developing their own capabilities to counter China.

"They're coming to the United States, they are going to Japan, they are going to Australia to develop the wherewithal to monitor and to defend and to protect their territorial waters. They're conducting exercises, and I come back to the fundamental point. They are inviting the United States in," he said.

"If the Chinese strategy was to freeze us out, it – it's not – not only is it not working, it has backfired. We are giving these smaller countries the confidence to push back. We are giving them the capabilities to monitor and defend their own territory and their interests. But, most importantly, Mr Chairman, we have prevented the situation from boiling over."